Green Meadows

After our visit to Country Critters in September the kids had been talking about the animals constantly. Seeing and touching them made them more real. I had heard about Green Meadows last year but the kids were not old enough to go. Green Meadows is a traveling petting zoo that only comes to town a couple times a year. This year my AMOM’s group was going on 10-15 which was a Thursday. I just can’t take off work for something like that but it got me excited about it again. The last two weekends of October were already filled with Halloween festivities and it would only be open until the end of October. Dallas had already begun working weekends at that point and I was determined to take the kids so I called in reinforcements…

Linda and Michael met us at the house and we were on our way. It was located near the marina of Joe Pool Lake so I was not familiar with the area. We have lived here for 10 years and have been to that lake maybe twice. It is right in our backyard so in the future we will have to take advantage of it. We pull up to a giant wooded area with an amazing playground on the water front. It really was beautiful. I had no idea any of it was there. We followed the winding sidewalk through the trees, over the bridge and finally to the open pasture of animals. On our way the kids met another set of boy/girl twins that were 17 months. They literally ran up to the double stroller and stopped them to say hello. After talking we exchanged phone numbers and they will be joining our multiples club. They were a really nice couple with two adorable little kids.

Our first stop was the goats. They had big goats, little goats, baby goats and little houses for the animals. The kids were interested in those houses probably more than the goats. Ha!

Ethan is in there too just in the shadows.


This goat followed Ethan trying to eat his shirt.


This is one of the twins and Ethan checking out the goat's food.

Now we were off to the Zebra. I could not believe they had a Zebra at a petting zoo. Paige was quite disappointed that she could not go into the Zebra pen but looked at him for the longest time. She even walked around the pen to see if she was just missing the entrance.

Of course the donkey has to pee in my picture.


This big bull was sweet but we did not touch his neighbor Mr. Buffalo. Can you imagine a petting zoo with a Buffalo in the middle of Tx.


These little pigs were waiting to start the animal show. The kids thought their little snorts were funny. I liked that these were cute little pigs instead of the giant hogs like we saw at Country Critters.


Waiting for the animal show to start.

The kids listened for a little bit but the show was a little old for them. Ethan got distracted by the little pigs and ran back over to their pen. We decided to catch the hay ride after the show was over and go back to petting animals until then.

Our next stop was feeding the goats. I have to say this was by far the kids favorite activity. I swear neither one of them has an ounce of fear. They ran right to the bucket, grabbed a handful of food and stuck their hands out for the goats to eat. Ethan got so excited he could not wait for them to finish before he would throw down the rest and run back for another handful of food.



They were feeding the goats so much that the attendant had to ask us to leave some for the other kids. There was plenty but we were taking forever. Then it was time to go in and pet the goats and sheep we had just fed. The kids pet a few but were quickly ready to go feed them again.

Look at the little babies standing in the hay stand. Too cute!

Then it was on to the ducks and geese. The kids automatically assumed they could pet and feed the ducks. It was so funny to watch the ducks run in one group and the geese in another. The kids were determined they were going to pet those animals.


Ethan had a handful of food the entire time trying his best to get them to eat it. After running for a while they would both stand back and stare as they tried to figure out the best way to catch them. Ethan even started yelling at the ducks, "Stop, eat ducks"! We could not help but laugh.


I don't know who was squawking louder the kids or the ducks.

The animal show was ending so we headed back over to the hay ride. It was just a ride up the street and back but the kids really enjoyed the older kids singing songs along the way.



After our hayride we headed back to where we had left off and the turkeys were next. I don't know why but Paige was really into the turkeys. She kept running and laughing while pointing at the huge birds.

I did not know turkeys got this big!


We moved right onto the chickens. The attendants urged us to hold a chicken or let the kids hold a chicken. I was less than thrilled about having to catch a chicken for anybody to hold. Luckily Grand Daddy is good at that sort of thing. All Ethan wanted to do was feed every animal after the goats. He threw feed out at every pen no matter how many times I told him to stop.


Paige was not scared of the chicken at all until it moved then she jumped back fast.

She decided she would just go help brother feed them after that.

On our way to the next animal. I love these kids so much!


The baby ducks and chickens were next. The kids were not thrilled that they could only pet them and not hold them. The attendants said children tend to hold them around the neck and hurt/kill them.



Look at that duck leaning as far as possible away from Ethan's hand.


This would be my daughter whining about wanting a black duck which continued over and over until she got to see the stinking duck.


"Ooohhhh, black duck Momma!"


Just like a toddler Ethan had a few 'fall out' moments. Thank goodness Grand Daddy could carry him until he got over it. That is usually Daddy's job.


I like this picture. The clidesdale was so beautiful.

Then we went to visit the brand new baby pigs. They were only a week old and actually bigger than I expected. They sat the kids on the edge of the box so they could get a good look. At that size you want to take one home with you.



Now it was time to milk a cow. The boys hurried over ahead of us.

Ethan was getting tired so he did not want to do it and this is as close as Paige got before she backed off.

By the time we got to the baby cows the kids just wanted to play in the little houses.


The alpachia, Ginger was our last animal at the farm. Paige really wanted to touch her but she was pacing nerviously back and forth in the cage. The attendant said that her friend was over at the animal show so she was upset. It was a beautiful animal and yet another one I could not believe they had at a traveling petting zoo.


We were now on our way to pick our pumpkins and go have lunch. Ethan was really getting tired so he hitched a ride with Nanny.

This would be him getting mad at me for something.


Of course picking pumpkins is always a big decision.


Ethan insisted on carrying his pumpkin all the way back. 'Men' even as little men they are still so stubburn.

The kids went to play while I went to the car for lunch. I had made us all a picnic lunch and was just hoping they would have a picnic table. I was so happy they had such an amazing area. The playground was awesome! It had recently been remodeled and had that soft padded covering on the ground. I have never seen equipment with four slides coming out of one side. It was set up like a ship and very impressive.








I realized once we were eating that this was our first official picnic. It made me sad that Daddy wasn't there for it but at the same time we really enjoyed spending it with Nana and Grand Daddy. It really was a perfect outing. The park and lunch just made the day so much more special. The kids were in a great mood and everyone had a fabulous time.

The only down side was that I got stung by something as soon as we started eating. I was sitting sideways facing the kids when the back of my arm by my elbow started to sting. I told Linda I thought something had just stung me but we all just continued to eat. By the time we had finished eating I could barely move my arm. The kids went to play some more and as I cleaned up I started to feel pain in my chest. I was getting light headed as I walked the cooler back to the car and we knew it was time to go. Linda insisted on driving and we hauled butt to the closest CVS for Benadryl. I was really shocked how quickly I felt so bad. I took two pills as soon as possible and by the time we hit I 20 I was able to move my arm again. How scary! I was just glad I was not there alone with the kids and that happened. Can you imagine! Linda joked as we drove home about what bad shape we were all in; she had been up for 24 hrs working, Michael was having trouble seeing out of his left eye and I was dizzy and sick from the stings. What a group!

I have to say Green Meadows was a huge hit for us! We will definitely be back next year. I can't thank Linda and Michael enough for going with me. It would not have been any fun with out them!